Later this month, the Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft will be launched, will there be female astronauts in this mission? When the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft arrives at China's space station, our space station will be filled with six astronauts for a short period of time.
Shenzhou-18 is about to be launched
The Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft is the seventh manned spacecraft launched in the era of the continental space station, and we have previously launched Shenzhou-12 to Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft. With the increasing frequency of manned spacecraft launches, everyone's attention to the launch plan of Shenzhou manned spacecraft may not be as high as that of Shenzhou 12 and Shenzhou 13 before.
The decline in attention actually shows that our country's technology in this area has become very mature, stable and reliable, and has become a normal thing. Although the attention does not seem to be as high as before, many netizens are still more concerned about when female astronauts will be able to go to space again and whether there will be female astronauts in the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft.
Because looking at the world, the proportion of female astronauts is still relatively small, taking the mainland as an example, now we have 3 batches of active astronauts, and the fourth batch of reserve astronauts will soon join the team, but there are only 3 known female astronauts. Since the proportion of female astronauts is relatively small, the chances of female astronauts going to space are much smaller than that of male astronauts.
Starting from the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, we have launched six Shenzhou-manned spacecraft to the Chinese space station to carry out flight missions, and the astronauts who are currently flying on the Chinese space station are from Shenzhou-17. In the previous 6 manned missions, 3 astronauts participated in each mission, that is, a total of 18 astronauts have entered the Chinese space station to carry out flight missions, and among the 18 astronauts, there are only 2 female astronauts.
It is precisely because female astronauts have fewer opportunities to participate in space missions, so many people hope that female astronauts can go to space again and have more opportunities to travel in the universe. From the perspective of probability, although the chance of female astronauts going out again is relatively small, since Liu Yang finished the Shenzhou 14 mission, there have been 3 space missions without female astronauts participating, and in the Shenzhou 18 or Shenzhou 19 missions, it is not excluded that female astronauts will participate.
If there are female astronauts involved in the Shenzhou 18 mission, it is estimated that it can only be the female astronaut from the third batch, that is, the female astronaut who has not yet made a public appearance. Because in March, astronauts Yang Liwei, Jing Haipeng, Wang Yaping, Liu Yang and others all participated in offline activities, which may mean that these astronauts will not participate in the Shenzhou 18 mission, and the Shenzhou 18 mission may not have a female commander.
Because the astronauts participating in the mission are generally selected one year or even more in advance, after the selection, these astronauts will carry out a series of mission training according to the flight mission. During the training period, astronauts generally have little time to participate in offline activities, and basically do so in a closed training state. In other words, the astronauts who have made their public appearances in the near future may not participate in the Shenzhou 18 mission.
Commander suspected exposure?
In the past few days, there is such a photo on the Internet that has attracted the attention of many netizens, and a science blogger named "Beijing Blue Dragon" shared a screenshot of the suspected astronaut Chen Dong's circle of friends on social platforms.
If this circle of friends is real, it may mean that astronaut Chen Dong is now participating in a series of mission training, and he has no time to see the flowers bloom and smell the flowers. Considering that Chen Dong has carried out space missions before, has rich flight experience, and has the command to serve as the commander of the mission, and now the astronaut crew of our mission is using the "old with the new" model, that is, 1 astronaut with rich flight experience serves as the commander and leads 1-2 new astronauts to space, so many people think that Chen Dong may be the commander of the Shenzhou 18 mission.
Of course, this is just speculation, and we are not sure about the authenticity of the screenshots of the circle of friends. Because at present, the official has not revealed any details about the Shenzhou 18 astronaut crew. Moreover, this circle of friends did not directly state that the astronaut was participating in the training of Shenzhou 18, Shenzhou 19 or other missions.
How do you protect your privacy?
Although the proportion of female astronauts is relatively low, astronauts can also complete a variety of difficult tasks when they perform missions in outer space, including out-of-cabin activities, so female astronauts are fully qualified for the mission of going to space. So how do these astronauts protect their privacy inside the space station?
At present, there are only 3 female astronauts known in our country, and in previous missions, during the on-orbit handover of the two astronaut crews, the space station will be filled with 6 astronauts for a short time, sometimes 6 male astronauts, sometimes 5 male astronauts and 1 female astronaut.
The situation on the International Space Station is more complicated, because there are a large number of astronauts in the ISS, these astronauts come from many countries, and sometimes there are multiple male astronauts and multiple female astronauts living together in the International Space Station. Although the space inside the space station is relatively small, there is no privacy when so many astronauts live together.
Taking our space station as an example, there is one sanitary area in the Tianhe core module and the Wentian experimental module, and astronauts can solve personal hygiene problems in the sanitary area, such as simply washing their hair. The Tianhe core module and the Wentian experimental module also have six independent sleeping areas, and the astronauts rest in their own sleeping areas. So, there is no need to worry about privacy.